Friday, December 28, 2007

Sunday Dec 23, 2007

27 miles (4:10) UPT-LRR-Bob's Road-Barr Camp down Barr Trail then out and back up William's Canyon (PC II)

This was a pretty good run. The Incline Club run was Waldo Canyon today, but I figured that since I'd taken the trouble to drive the 10 minutes to Manitou that I might as well get some legitimate vertical and altitude in, so I headed up Longs Ranch Road instead. There wasn't too much more snow than last week until I got to Bob's Road, which was much worse than last week. The 2nd day in a row of post-holing through knee-deep snow without socks or tights was...frustrating.

After I finally emerged onto the Barr Trail, it wasn't a whole lot better because of all the drifting. It was a pretty big struggle to get to Barr Camp. After thawing out a bit there and eating a pancake I headed back down the trail (much easier, ha ha), and then headed up the well-packed William's Canyon trail to get in the extra time/distance. I took my second gel with only 25 minutes or so left in the run. I normally would've just gutted it out, but I wanted to be sure to be alert for the tricky footing on the small ledges on the Williams trail. It ended up being a gorgeous day; I was able to strip down to shirt-sleeves for the last part of the run.

After the run I immediately jumped in the car and drove the 10 hours to my parent's house in Nebraska for the holidays. Driving that far with a 4 hour run in the legs is sure a lot of fun...

The ideal in the Lieh-Tzu is a state, not of withdrawal, but of heightened perceptiveness and responsiveness in an undifferentiated world. My mind concentrated and my body relaxed, bones and flesh fused completely, I drifted with the wind East or West, like a leaf from a tree or a dry husk, and never knew whether it was the wind that rode me or I that rode the wind. -The Book of Lieh-Tzu